Photographer Mehrdad Rasoulifard is taking viewers on a visual journey through the history of ancient (and modern!) Iranian architecture and design. He captures the structural and artistic intricacies of iran’s most significant places of worship and cultural complexes, including the tessellated and tiled ceilings of historic mosques. Via DesignBoom

Interview: Berkeley Breathed shares four letters sent to him by the late author Harper Lee, who was a fan of Bloom County and of Opus in particular.

Interview:Kwanza Osajyefo, who ran DC Comics’ Zuda webcomics imprint and is spearheading a Kickstarter to fund the graphic novel Black, recounts how the hour he spent with Dwayne McDuffie at age 17 changed his life.

Interview:Greg Cravens draws the syndicated comic The Buckets and his own webcomic Hubris,
and because he’s also a busy commercial artist, his artwork is all over
Memphis, in the form of everything from logos to murals.

Interview:Hayley Nitz may be only 16, but the Olathe, Kansas, teenager is already working on her first graphic novel, Chasing Hitler, a story about two servicemen who are sent to confirm Hitler’s death — only to discover he’s still alive.

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Interview:Pat Bagley, political cartoonist for the Salt Lake Tribune, talked about
his work and the way the field of political cartooning has changed as
he accepted Utah State University’s Ted Pease Award for journalism.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

30 Essential Wuxia Films: With the highly-anticipated release of two King Hu masterpieces on
home video by the Masters of Cinema organization, as well as the
critical success of Hou Hsiao-hsien’s The Assassin last year, it seems
like the wuxia film is making some inroads into the Western critical
consciousness. So I thought I’d put together a guide to some of the
essential films of the genre.

There’s a brand new documentary in the works centered on the Ghostbusters fandom. The concept might sound familiar. It’s just like last year’s Back to the Future fan documentary Back In Time–it’s even made by a few of the same people! You should check out the Kickstarter if you want to see this doc come to fruition.

A Fine Mess: How Not to Assert Your Copyright in the Youtube Age: "A week ago, one of the more popular YouTube organizations, Fine BrosEntertainment,
run by brothers Benny and Rafi Fine, announced a new scheme to license
out its React brand and video format on a profit-sharing basis. The endeavor backfired
spectacularly, mostly because people felt that the Fine Bros were
profiteering and aiming to exploit the creativity of others."

New Software Can Actually Edit Actors' Facial Expressions
A new software, from Disney Research in conjunction with the University
of Surrey, may help cut down on the number of takes necessary, thereby
saving time and money. FaceDirector blends images from several takes,
making it possible to edit precise emotions onto actors’ faces.

Stephen King On What Hollywood Owes Authors When Their Books Become Films: "I want a dollar, and I want approvals over the screenwriter, the
director and the principal cast. We try to make these people understand,
the people that are doing the deal, that I want to be part of the
solution, not part of the problem. I’m not a hard guy to get along with.
In all the time we’ve been doing this, I’ve never put up a red light to
anybody about anything that they wanted to do. Because if they want to
make changes, if they want to be a little bit out on the edge, I’m all
for it. I like it."

Ai Weiwei Closes Danish Show in Protest of New Refugee Law
- Once again, Ai Weiwei is in the news. This time, he has closed his
show in Copenhagen in protest of a new law that allows Danish
authorities to search the homes of refugees. Under the new law,
Danish authorities would be able to confiscate refugees’ belongings to
pay for the expense of them staying in Denmark. The Faurschou Foundation
gave a statement saying they backed his decision.

Facebook Censors Naked Artist - Brooklyn’s Christopher Stout Gallery found its Facebook account blocked after a photo of artist Lisa Levy sitting naked on the toilet
was reported by users. Levy was only partially naked and her bottom half
was completely obscured. This is not the first time facebook has
removed art that they deem to be offensive.

News:Google Revamps Their Webmasters Portal
- Google relaunched the portal for webmasters at
google.com/webmasters. This is where most webmasters go to log in to the
Google Search Console, but it is also jam-packed with help
documentation related to making a better website and complying with
Google’s webmaster guidelines.

Interview:Spike Trotman discusses her two current projects, the latest Smut Peddler
anthology, published by her own company Iron Circus, and her graphic
biography of singer Josephine Baker, which will be released by First
Second.

Interview: Writer Si Spurrier talks about his new series Cry Havoc: “It’s
about a woman trying to live a normal life, but she’s not. She’s
infected by a sliver of chaos, an idea, something which kicks her out of
her nice, neat, domestic little life. Over time it digs up all this
stuff that, if she would admit it to herself, has been bubbling away
under there all along. And then, of course, we take this absolute
batshit twist and send her off to Afghanistan.”